Day in the life of; Shane Lake

06th October 2014

07:15

My day starts at 7:15am sharp… breakfast is usually a simple affair of Bran Flakes or Toast. I live locally, so it’s only a 15 minute bike ride into the office, which is my excuse for not going the gym! Some of you may recognise me from our LIVE@ Events where I can be found giving advice to customers in the Accounts Clinic (opposite).

08:30

First up is a look through my emails to see if anything urgent needs attending to. I then log into our internal systems to look at the Development and QA plan. This contains all of the new functionality and work that is currently being developed and tested for up-coming releases, so I always have a complete picture of my upcoming workload.

10:45

I work closely with the Evolution and Evolution M Development team and pick up any new software that has been released – sometimes this involves reading a detailed specification, or having a handover of the changes with a Development team member, or if it’s a simple change, reading the handover notes against the log.

12:05

A large part of my role includes what we refer to as QA work. This is effectively the Quality Assurance process of testing new software that has been developed against its original specification to make sure it is all working correctly. I continually cross reference QA work against software release dates that may have already been communicated with customers, to ensure we are still on track.

13:15

When it hits lunchtime I am often guilty of not leaving my desk and usually only have a brief break for a sandwich – there is always something to do as I’m sure many people can relate to!

14:30

During the day, Development may ask for clarification on a change to the software which has been requested by a customer or member of staff. Alternatively I may need to discuss an issue found during my testing, so it is not uncommon for me to be found working together with a Developer in their office working through a problem.

15:45

Some of the more detailed development changes require specific test plans to be drawn up – this is to a) ensure the change has been met correctly and b) to ensure nothing else has changed that shouldn’t have! Evolution and Evolution M are such large solutions that changing one area can often have an (unwanted) impact on another, so it is crucial that I create test plans which cover all angles. After changes have passed QA I then write releases notes and, if necessary, user guides before distributing internally to our Support and Professional Services teams.

17:05

As I have been at Integrity for such a long time, I have built up lots of knowledge on all solutions and so throughout the day I will also assist Support if they have specific issues that they wish to run by me and help with data-investigation type calls. I’m also lucky enough to be on HMRCs mailing list and receive regular updates from them. It is my responsibility to interpret PAYE changes and provide information for the Development team.

18:30

After work I will watch any football, I am a Liverpool fan but don’t hold that against me! I do go for a jog whenever possible, but after a busy day and cycling to and from work, it’s not always at the top of my priority list!

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